Police had to be called in to restore order after a crowd gathered to see a cheating wife and her lover locked together during sex after the rumour spread that her husband had asked a witch doctor to put a curse on her private parts.

Lover gets stuck while having sex with married woman

And although medical experts say the embarrassing experience was more likely a case of ‘penis captivus’, in which the woman’s vagina had contracted too much and trapped the man’s penis, they were unable to stop the rumour and the mob had quickly assembled.

South Africa media said that unfaithful Sasha Ngema, 34, had reportedly been romping with toyboy Sol Qoboza, 22, at a rented apartment in the city of Johannesburg while her husband was away on business.

According to the story that spread like wildfire through the neighbourhood, they found they could not separate afterwards apparently because suspicious hubby Neill, 42, had gone to a witch doctor who put the curse on his wife’s private parts before he left.

The spell, known as a muthi, is designed to make sure that if someone other than the husband tries to have sex with the woman in question, he will remain stuck until the husband returns to extract his revenge.

The shocked couple began calling for help, which soon turned into screams as they became more desperate for him to withdraw, according to local media.

Neighbour Priscilla Ndlovu, 34, said: ‘At first I thought it was just the screams of sexual pleasure, but it turned out to be screams for help.

‘I knocked on the door to see if everything was OK, and when I went in I saw him lying on top of her sobbing as she screamed to be freed.’

News of the curse quickly spread and by the time police arrived over 2,000 people had swarmed onto the street outside the apartment block demanding to see the cheating couple.

A police spokesman said: ‘We had to use pepper spray to disperse the crowd as they refused to leave and were causing huge problems.’

The couple were reportedly taken away by an ambulance that had been called to the scene.

It took the pair to a local hospital but local magic specialist Sangoma Mathabo Mofokeng said: ‘No one will be able to separate them until the woman’s husband comes back.’

However, medics said although rare it was possible that a man’s penis could become trapped inside the woman in exceptional circumstances.

Penis captivus is a rare occurrence in intercourse when the muscles in the vagina clamp down on the penis much more firmly than usual (a form of vaginismus), making it impossible for the penis to withdraw from the vagina.